washingtonscene
a bullet, a military vehicle accident, or a
slip on an icy runway.”
Another consensus was that the VA
should be the single agency assigning dis-
ability percentages. Strobridge said MOAA
supports the pilot program scheduled for
November implementation by DoD and
the VA, under which DoD will determine
what conditions render a servicemember
unfi t for continued duty, the VA will assign
disability ratings for all service-connected
disabilities, and DoD will accept the VA rat-
ings in establishing the military disability
retirement percentage.
MOAA has concerns about a new ad-
ministration proposal that would abolish
the military disability retirement system MOAA’s Col. Steve Strobridge,
and leave determinations of health care USAF-Ret., offered disability system
eligibility for most service-disabled ser- improvements at an Oct. 17 Senate Veter-
vicemembers and their families to the ans’ Affairs Committee hearing.
discretion of the secretary of Defense.
While MOAA strongly supports guarantee- tive and policy changes. “America is the
ing service-earned retired pay in addition most powerful nation in the world,” he said.
to VA disability compensation (for which “I don’t see why it should take us years to
MOAA applauds the administration’s plan), get these things fi xed.”
outright elimination of the military disabil-
ity retirement system has the potential to
reduce compensation for certain severely- A Day Early,
disabled mid-grade offi cers by as much as
$1,000 a month, and potentially even more $8,000 Short
for certain Guard and Reserve offi cers.
Montgomery GI Bill snafu hits
Strobridge also emphasized the need to
establish a joint DoD/VA seamless transi-
Minnesota Guard.
tion offi ce, charged with implementing
and maintaining initiatives such as a joint
electronic medical record and electronic
separation document. “This is too im- M
OAA’s Deputy Director for
Government Relations Col. Bob
Norton, USA-Ret., was the lead
portant to be someone’s part-time job,” witness at an Oct. 18 hearing before the
he said. “We have to build a structure of House Veterans’ Affairs Economic Op-
responsibility that won’t disappear when portunity Subcommittee on the Mont-
certain key offi cials or their bosses leave.” gomery GI Bill (MGIB).
Akaka and Burr expressed their commit- The dominant subject was education
ment to doing the right thing by wounded benefi ts for returning combat veterans
warriors and all disabled servicemembers. from the Minnesota National Guard. The
Akaka said many needed initiatives would 34th brigade combat team served a gruel-
be addressed in the defense bill already ing 16-month tour in Iraq and a total of 22
passed in the Senate. Burr expressed a months on active duty. More than half of
sense of urgency about completing legisla- the unit served on two-year orders that
32 MILITARY OFFICER DECEMBER 2007 PHOTO: STEVE BARRETT
DDec_scene.indd
32ec_scene.indd 32 111/6/07 5:30:30 PM1/6/07 5:30:30 PM
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